A Nurse's Thoughts on Natural Medicine

• 2 cups bran flakes cereal
• 1 cup organic skim, lowfat, or whole milk
• 2 Tbsp. grapeseed oil
• 1 egg
• 1 Tbsp. honey
• 1/3 cup molasses
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 ½ cups whole-wheat flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 2 apples, grated and coated with 1 tsp. cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 350° F.
2. Spray twelve 2½ -inch muffin cups with nonstick cooking spray.
3. Mix bran cereal and milk in a medium bowl and let stand for 5 minutes.
4. In a large bowl, mix oil, egg, honey, molasses, vanilla extract, and cereal mixture. Add flour and baking powder.
5. Fold in apple-cinnamon mixture.
6. Divide batter into 12 muffin cups. Bake 25 minutes.
7. Eat fresh out of the oven, or freeze individual muffins in freezer bags for the kids to take to school.

• 1 Tbsp. flaxseeds, ground
• ½ cup fresh fruit—blueberries, a peach, kiwi, banana, or whatever you like
• 8 oz. organic rice milk, organic skim milk, organic yogurt, or unsweetened juice (you can also use water or a combination)
• 1 serving size (follow directions on package) of soy or whey protein powder

• Age 55 or older
• Heredity/family history
• Men
• History of heart attack and/or stroke
• Medical conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure levels, vascular disease, atrial fibrillation, and sickle cell anemia
• Drug/alcohol abuse
• Poor diet
• Sedentary lifestyle
• Living in the southeast US (“stroke belt”)
• Low socioeconomic status

• numbness of the face or extremities;
• facial drooping, especially the mouth; 
• gait imbalances, staggering, falling;
• problems with numbness or  moving one side of the body (hemi- paresis or hemiparalysis);  and/or
• altered cognition or level of consciousness.

• Mild to intense mid-chest pressure
• Shortness of breath
• Dull pain between the shoulder blades
• Achiness in the jaw
• Pain in left arm or elbow
• Profuse sweating
• Indigestion (often overlooked)
• Nausea

• Dull, aching chest discomfort (vague)
• Acute breathlessness
• Sudden, profound fatigue
• Jaw or neck pain
• Pain in left arm or elbow
• Abdominal discomfort, nausea, vomiting
• Dizziness, even blackouts
• Vague flu-like symptoms

1. Combine all the ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth and creamy.
2. Store in airtight container. Keeps one to two days.

Pure flax oil is the world's most abundant source of omega-3 fatty acids, containing an amazing 55 percent by weight. As such, flax oil offers incredible health benefits that should not be discounted.

Specifically, flax contains alpha linolenic acid, which your liver must break down to form the more commonly known omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA. There has been debate about whether alpha linolenic acid effectively converts to EPA and DHA. However, research shows that it does.

Research suggests that increased consumption of omega-3 fatty acids can reduce several cardiovascular problems by helping to promote healthy cholesterol levels, as well as healthy triglycerides. They also help keep blood pressure levels in the normal range. In addition, omega-3s help reduce circulatory problems by supporting healthy circulation and blood flow throughout the body.

One of the best ways to reap these benefits from flax by eating ground flaxseed. And yes, you must grind the seeds to release the oil. Otherwise, they'll pass right through you, undigested. I recommend getting a coffee grinder and dedicating it to flaxseed, because you don't want to mix ground coffee and flax. It's not a taste sensation! Also, you must use the flax within hours of grinding it. Once exposed to air, the oil in ground flax goes rancid quickly. (For the same reason, flax oil must be refrigerated.)

You can sprinkle ground flax on just about anything—soups, stews, ice cream, you name it. Above all, avoid cooking with ground flax, because again, the oil will become rancid.

The beauty of flaxseed is that you get significant amounts of protein and fiber in a tiny package. In a typical 2 oz. serving (1/4 cup), you'll get approximately 11 grams of fiber and 10 grams of protein. Exact amounts will vary with the quality of the flaxseed and how it's grown.

Easy Flax Shake

One of the easiest (and tastiest!) ways to get your daily flax is to add it to a shake or smoothie. Here’s one of my favorite versions.

1.    Grind up 2 tablespoons of organic flaxseed.
2.    In a blender, add 8 to 10 ounces of chilled soy milk, ½ a banana, 1 cup of your favorite berries, and the freshly ground flaxseed.
3.    Blend well and enjoy!

On the Road with Dr. Sinatra - November 2009

I am lucky to travel the country with Dr Sinatra, and it always excites me to watch and listen while he lectures, whether he has an audience of MDs, NDs, allied health professionals, or subscribers. But what really warms my heart is sitting “in the bleachers” as my husband speaks to eager students about integrated medicine. They totally “get” that blending the best of both worlds is where it’s at.

Traditional medicine reigns supreme for emergency, surgical, and urgent medical situations: it’s both a science and an art form that takes years to learn and lots of compassion to do well. But when it comes to helping folks with the host of chronic diseases we now recognize, less mainstream professionals—like highly trained naturopaths (NDs), acupuncturists, holistic dentists, and energy workers—are very important players to include.

Dr. Sinatra has a vision. He is investing in our youth: our doctors of the future. It’s his belief that it is critical to send the message about integrated medical approaches to graduate students even before they select their future professions, as well as to medical students before their education becomes totally influenced by “Big Pharma.”

My husband has addressed students at the University of Connecticut Medical School, where he is assistant professor; at Albany Medical School, where he is an alumnus and serves on the Dean’s Council; and at Bastyr University, where his son Drew and our daughter-in-law Briana trained as NDs.

Thanks to Dr. Harry Preuss, this past week Dr Sinatra brought his enthusiasm for integrated medicine to Georgetown University, where he encouraged graduate students to consider doing research into integrative approaches and working from this new and promising paradigm. He motivated those thinking of medical school to be part of “the shift.” It was SO rewarding to feel their passion for learning, and for assuming the role of change agents for the future.

These past years, Dr. Sinatra has also been busy behind the scenes coordinating a summer program for which some MD students from Albany Med and UConn attend a month long course on CAM (Complementary and Alternative Medicine) at Bastyr University, where he is one of the guest speakers. 

Dr Sinatra also figures that if Albany Med students can get an MD/PhD in six years, then why not create a program to earn an ND/MD within the same time frame? Sound far out? I am his biggest skeptic, but believe it or not, his small efforts have been gaining momentum.

Next year, students from Georgetown will be invited to join the summer CAM program. Dr. Sinatra feels so strongly that the “doctor of the future” will be a specialist in integrated approaches that he continues put up scholarship money for students who want to attend the summer CAM programs at Bastyr, and is “lobbying” with these schools to develop an MD/ND program.  

For updates on this mission of his, or to watch some live video of, check out www.heartmdinstitute.com. To catch a younger Dr. Sinatra being interviewed about the future of healthcare visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bygt63qsQvU.

Dr. Sinatra and I travel a lot--sometimes more than 2 weeks a month (which would be really hard on our two dogs had we not such a loving personal friend, dog-lover, and care provider for them.)

This November was an especially busy month, the highlight of which was spending an evening at the home of Suzanne Somers in Palm Springs. Suzanne hosted a warm reception for MDs and others would who had contributed to her recent book Knockout: Interviews with doctors who are curing cancer... and how to prevent it in the first place.
  
What an experience! Imagine an evening mingling and sharing with Suzanne and all the doctors Dr. Sinatra and I most admire when it comes to knocking out cancer: Stan Burzynski, MD; Nicholas Gonzalez MD; James Forsythe, MD; Julie Taguchi, MD; Russell Blaylock, MD; Jonathan Wright, MD; Michael Galitzer, MD, Burton Goldberg... It was such a gift!

Ralph Moss, PhD was unable to join us, but what an opportunity for Dr. Sinatra and I to meet and speak with such like-minded experts in their own specific fields! And what a great introduction to Knockout by our dear friend and colleague Dr. Julian Whitaker; he, too, tells it like it is when it comes to cancer treatment in this country. God bless him!

An entire chapter is devoted to each one of these paradigm-shifting doctors. Each one of them is rich with direct experience, new approaches, as well as HOPE and PROOF that cancer can be knocked out without chemo, radiation, and surgery. And, should you choose these traditional approaches, there are other options you must know about to make them safer, kinder to the body, and more effective. Dr. Sinatra contributed a chapter on the emotional aspects of living with a chronic illness, which is equally important.

Knockout is a must for all of us! Cancer statistics being what they are, we should all have a game plan in mind should we, or a loved one, ever hear those frightening words: ”I’m sorry, but you have cancer.”

Look, there’s no foolin’ a nurse, like me. I know that, like you, I am more likely to die of heart disease or cancer than anything else. That’s just pure statistics (with a tweak of family history, for good measure). And, while being a cardiac nurse, and living with Dr. Sinatra, I am somewhat confident about how I would handle a diagnosis of heart disease, I am way less secure when it comes to cancer!

So for me, this book is the best cancer resource I have yet to find! After sharing her own personal story, Suzanne’s interviews provide readers with all the information she wished she’d had at the time of diagnosis, so they don’t have to search archives and the internet to find answers--or spend hours in waiting rooms looking for the right doctor. I wish this reference had been here for us a year ago when my own daughter was diagnosed with breast cancer; the information is that rich and that hopeful.

A ten-year survivor of breast cancer (and a very beautiful and energetic one to boot!), who better than Suzanne Somers to bring forth the knowledge and experience of this group of dedicated and hardworking physicians who have dared to fight against the “status quo” in cancer treatment: poison, cut, and burn? You’d think folks would be “knocking” her door down to ask: “so, what DID you do?”

But, I know that’s not how things work. No one calls to ask Dr. Sinatra how he saved someone who was “left for dead” with his sometimes “unorthodox” approaches to cardiology either.  Go figure!  It absolutely stymies me why talk show hosts (like Geraldo) would even begin to challenge Suzanne after all she’s been through, let alone who she has consulted and what she has learned. But skepticism being what it is against anything “nontraditional” and non-‘Big Pharma’, they do! (Hmm…I should find the time to checkout who the network sponsors are for those talk show hosts, shouldn’t I? Maybe the purple pill dudes… Maybe the ED guys…)

Cancer is not a death sentence. Knockout (love the title!) frames out strategies for how to live with cancer, manage cancer, and ultimately strike the “knock out” punches that will bring cancer to its knees--for ALL of us. I’m just not so afraid of cancer anymore!

Thanks to Suzanne’s research, and her gutsy determination to get this information out to people--against all odds--I now know what I will do and whom I will consult should I ever hear “those words”. Don’t you want that for yourself and those you love? Don’t you especially want to know your options if you are in treatment for cancer, have ever been diagnosed with cancer, or are looking to know what to do to prevent it in the first place?

 I DO!

Fall is one of my favorite times of the year. I love the crisp, cool weather and the changing leaves on the trees. I also love the abundance of one of my favorite fall foods—apples! While we know apples have numerous health boosting qualities; remember the saying “an apple a day keeps the doctor away?” Did you know apples are actually one of the best foods you can add to a cholesterol lowering diet?

In fact, apples are a cholesterol lowering diet—super food!   That’s because they’re loaded with phytonutrients and fiber, which have been shown in studies to help lower blood cholesterol. There’s no question that apples should be a staple of any cholesterol lowering diet. One of my favorite ways to eat apples is to slice them up, sprinkle a little cinnamon on top—and enjoy!

But an apple snack is only one way to enjoy them. You can also add apples to your cholesterol lowering diet by making them for dinner. Try placing boneless, skinless chicken breasts in a casserole dish, along with chopped onions, apples, and a few raisins. Sprinkle cinnamon with cinnamon, curry (and any of your favorite “apple pie spices”)—and bake in the oven at 350 degrees until the chicken is done. 

Plus, who says a cholesterol lowering diet can’t include dessert? Try making a healthy apple brown betty by layering apple slices in a casserole dish and sprinkling them with oatmeal. Then, add a “swizzle” of raw honey and a sprinkle of cinnamon. Bake at 350 until the apples soften (about 20 minutes).

Do you have a favorite apple recipe? I’d love to hear about it, so I can add it to my cholesterol lowering diet.